Archive for oktober, 2008

When was the last time you did go to a shop and buy a CD? Well, time and behavior changes with the time. But the music industry doesn’t adapt and learn at the same level as consumer behavior changes. I do think it is because they are not driven by passion for what they deliver, music. Instead they have become extremely big and controlling the music industry. Artist has been paid what ever they like to pay them. But then came free music on Internet and changed everything. So know they say to the artist, we don’t earn any money on selling your records anymore, so you have to hold concerts. That make sense – you spread music cheap online and then collect profit by meeting your fans live. So fare so good.
But here comes the criminal level of doing business. Fans, consumers and media are starting to get suspicious. Why, because when bands as Metallica, AC/DC are playing live al the tickets is sold out before they start to sell them. In Sweden we have Ticnet that and internationally we have Live Nation working with organization sells of tickets.
Here is a scenario of what could be the criminal case of what’s happening: Artist love to play live and meet their fans. They get explain that they will earn their living by playing live so they sign a contract to travel around the world. Lets say they get 10% of every ticket that are sold for 60 Euro. But the tickets are being sold secondly for 400-2000 Euro. They are sold at different sites days before release date. Lets say the tickets are being sold by music industry x to their “not official company.” The effect is that the artists fans cant afford to the tickets and only gets paid 0,000000? % of the ticket sells this is not motivating them to perform the best. Concerts without real fans will become boring with out fans with passion for the music, so by ones again focusing on money they will lose again.
To say that the music industry is criminal would be stupid (and expansive to say on my own blog). So lets say this, a lot of traditional business are having panic over that money is not coming in to their expansive organization, so they more ore less move in the shadows of what use to bee called criminal business – even the prison business are doing so.I have to say that this not an accusation ore me saying that they are doing criminal business, it is only me putting different Lego part together to understand what is ore could happened – when old business are having panic when time changes everything.

For more than a decade ago I did do an interview with a CEO of a growing plastic surgery company. When I called them they had an answer machine that where playing music and saying that we will answer soon. Nothing strange with that, but the music were classic and the female talking with and sensual voice was saying things as: Have you ever been thinking of how beautiful you could look with a new nose? And then back to the classic music. And the again: Ore what about how masculine ore feminine you would look with a new chin? After this I was more ore less shock, is this what it comes down to? What’s next press 1 on the telephone to get a new nose? Anyway they did answer and I when there to meet the CEO, he and every one at there office looked like models. It was a strange feeling to talk about beauty as a business, but it is big business. I did recognize a lot of friends in there before and after reference book. Today is the CEO in prison for raping consumer when he had put them to sleep (before they become beautiful). If I did recognize some of his consumers in the reference book then off course some of his fellow prisoners also has friends how got his treatment. I guess he in prison will learn what privacy really means and that he don’t have to learn the hard way that in prison they don’t put there “fellows” to sleep before standard treatment.

The German soap opera Inga Lindström is unique in a lot of ways.It is a filmed in Sweden with German actors talking German, but acting Swedish (in an German way). It is about life in Sweden in the way that Germans like to see Sweden, its function like a commercial mirror (what we like to see ore buy). The soap opera is successful in Germany and got 7 million viewers. It is not the read Sweden (but what do I know, living in a country makes us al home blind). It is a Sweden that Germans like to move to, and they do buy a lot of houses on the village – in other words Inga is becoming real (Germans are walking around in real Sweden and acting Swedish). The success builds on taking one country and offering it to another country in the way they like to see it is interesting, whey not do the same with other countries, come to Sweden and sell your mirror version back to your country – Inga can be acted and speak any language. Meet here at

In next week are the premiere of ”Pretty woman A/S” it is the theatre version of the success movie Pretty Woman (1990). The movie made Julia Roberts a superstar now in the theatre version is going to be real prostitutes. The actor that plays Richard Gere are going to go out of the theatre with an film camera out on the streets in Copenhagen, Denmark. The theater is located in a part of town called Vesterbro, where a lot of “real prostitutes” work. The actor will pay them around 200 Euro to talk about their work. The government are now protesting and also the culture establishment.

I often ask my self-why is not theatre full of “real people” that not act but are real. In this case I do understand that it is more than controversial. But the best question would be what will Julia Roberts say about this reality level of here character Vivian Ward?

Yesterday I was at Tendensdagen, one of the leading seminar days in Scandinavia. The day started of with and speaker that did know how to provocative and deliver points in a way that shocked the audience, professor in innovation, Alf Rehn from Finland (free download his book The Scholar’s Progress). We have never ever seen a speaker from Finland act in that way. He pointed out that he found is a fan of Apple and 2-3 month before the iPhone was released he found copies of the iPhone in China. The copy of the iPhone where even better than the original (better software etc). When he did contact the pirates how copying products they where complaining about that the original brands where to slow to innovate so they are now starting to develop there own innovation department.

The rest of the day was focusing on that brands now need to become honest and that simplicity rules. But the king of the day was from Finland, and he liked Apple.

A lot of brands are today creating their own media channel. A high prices car brand as Infinite are now building their brand by producing their own Infinite magazine that they call Adeyaka that also got an website connected to the message, on Adeyaka.com. The magazine looks really good, like a design magazine, however the content is not as great as the layout. It is however a smart way to packed their brand into a position. In the magazine they compare them self with brands as Apple, Google. I do understand their point, make a magazine in A3 and get other advertisers to pay parts of the cost of producing 200 pages of colors pages in luxury layout. Then to put a price on it and sell for 25 Euro and get consumers to pay for buying advertising is sort of the future. So fare so good, but wouldn’t it be better to do an car that have a personality and good looking that it would spread the world by being unique? Apple and Google are unique Infinite are not Infinite… so it puts money on making a brand around the car instead of being a brand that grows with the consumers. However they do a good job in finding potential consumers by spreading the magazine at hotels where the right consumers live (luxury design hotels etc). But still – SAAB is maybe not a extremely luxury car but it is unique (start key etc), so it connect with a consumers how feel for it and not only for the brand around the car, but even inside and outside the brand. That is how an Infinite brand should become Infinite forever and only by pimp up the car for 25 Euro.

This week I was Keynote Speaker for the Belgian Direct Marketing Association. The topic of the seminar The Revenge was: The Impact of Social Media on Direct Marketing. It was extremely well organized with good speakers and Belgians best bloggers involved in the seminar with online discussions. Like this blog post: Entrepriseglobale.biz: “Si vous n’écoutez pas votre marché, votre marché ne vous fera plus confiance.” A lot of the discussions where about how marketing people can have control over their brands in a time when consumers are queens and kings over communications. In my opinion marketers never had any control over brands but now it is total clear that consumers rule. The question is how is the brand owners, the company’s ore the consumers? I do think it is both, but it is the relation ship be twin them that define the value of the brand.

The day was so full of good speakers and discussions that I have to get back to it later.

I did hold a lecture today in Oslo, at the Store Annonsørdagen, for the ANFO Advertising organization. The topic for the day was change. My topic for my lecture was “Power to the people.” Short version of the lecture: Adopt and change (fast). Making consumer power work for your brand. How smart marketers benefit from the energy of the consumer.

There were a lot of good speakers, one from Google. He had a lot of good points but I can’t understand why Google needs to sell their message? We are buying it anyway. Speaker Mirage Islam, Contributing editor, Contagious Magazine. Did show cool cases ups.com/widget, and a lot of good points to the picture of what’s happening online.